Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 could boost earnings for many workers. But it would also likely reduce the number of jobs in the economy, according to a report published by the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday.

For many laborers currently working at or slightly above $7.25, a new law would help boost their paychecks.

But in some cases, businesses might choose to reduce payrolls rather than pay the higher wage.

Using economic modeling and projections, the CBO estimates that roughly 500,000 workers would lose their jobs due to such cuts were the minimum wage to be increased to $10.10. More broadly, the CBO says there is "about a two-thirds chance" that the impact on total employment would register somewhere between a "very slight" decrease and 1 million jobs lost.

For those low-wage workers who are able to keep their jobs, total aggregate income would likely increase significantly -- by roughly $31 billion, the CBO estimates.

At the same time, business owners would see lower profits, because they would have to pay higher wages. And that would translate to higher prices for consumers.

Altogether -- earnings gained, minus profits lost by businesses as well as spending power lost by consumers -- the net effect would be about $2 billion in net income added, the CBO estimates.

The impact on a specific individual's earnings would vary greatly depending on how much that person earned relative to the poverty line. Put another way: a minimum wage increase would redistribute incomes significantly, the CBO says.

- For families currently living below the poverty line, increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 would boost their aggregate real net incomes by $5 billion.

- Families with incomes between one and three times the poverty line would gain $12 billion.

- Families with incomes between three and six times the poverty line would gain $2 billion.

- Families with incomes more than six times the poverty line would lose $17 billion in real net income, the CBO estimates.